Network services and operations today often need to measure network disruption, complexity, risk, and security. Many network performance indexes are defined to meet certain requirements. Usually, the indexes are dependent on the size of the network. Examples of network performance indexes are Cisco System Inc.'s Network Disruption Index (NDI) and Number of Service Requests (NSR). There are numerous others network performance indexes. These indexes are indications of how the network is performing, and if the network operation is improving or declining. However, customers often ask how their networks perform compared to peers/competitors or some industry standard or benchmark. Having an accurate view of the benchmark of an index is important to enable a customer to understand the performance status of the network.
The ability to accurately know the performance of the network can help the customers of network equipment maximize the usage of network resources and decide future investment strategies for the network. However, most network performance indexes are dependent on the size of a network.